Wednesdays seem to be bad days for jobs and me. It was a Wednesday the last time I got laid off. At least that time I felt at least respected and felt the management was truly sorry. It really came without warning. I was called into our CTO office and was the first informed. He told me he felt bad, and he informed me when I asked that I was the first told, mainly because I expected me to be the one with the most maturity and would make it the easiest on him. I was after all the oldest laid off and the one with the most job experience. He was green at this, so I laid it on the line that I thought he was doing it wrong. He needed to tell everyone at once. Though never previously laid off myself, I had been a place where it happened. Word got out layoffs were happening, and the very guy I was talking to got called in to speak with management. We knew what he was being called for. That was a much more pleasant situation, as they allowed us to stick around a couple of days and earn our pay through the end of the week, even using the company resources to job hunt in that time. It was about the smoothest layoff one could help for.

Not this time. We got word late on Tuesday about an all-hands meeting. We had suspected layoffs were coming for weeks, even in the face of words to the contrary from management. We were lied to, and what info they had they kept from us, and we knew it. Some of us suspected the meeting was about layoffs -- previous layoffs (three smaller ones) had been followed by meetings to regroup the survivors. Each of the previous ones had been 6 or fewer guys. When we arrived Wednesday, we couldn't access the computers, there was a mysterious stack of boxes in a smaller conference room, and management was hiding. Several normally early to work employees weren't there. They had been told not to come in that day, not because they were cut, but that they survived. This layoff, half the company was getting it, including about 3/4 of this office, the headquarters office. We had our meeting, said exit interviews would be next week, and we were given two hours to pack our desks and leave. At least this time I got a small severance.

It is often in times like this that transitions happen. You take time to reflect, you evaluate not just career but life, and many change careers in times like this. With my severance making me ineligible for unemployment until it ran out anyway, after initialing contacting some headhunters I had used before and updating resumes on places like monster.com, I took time to reflect and do some volunteering. To guide reflection, I thought back on the recently read Halftime by Bob Buford and by Bolle's famous What Color is Your Parachute? All they served to do is to reinforce something I had already planned to do, which is to continue involvement in helping other Christians realize God has a defining purpose in their life, but for now outside of any work. I am in no position to even consider making any transition to doing something with that full time. That would likely take years of seminary training to qualify. Now is the time to find a job doing what I do well, and return to the classroom to explore other career options at another time

Additionally, I met with someone from a big name career counseling service. With some short debate, I skip paying the big $$$. I have an idea anyway, so why spend the dollars.

Well, the severance runs out, so it is time to get more serious about job hunting. I had spoken to one highly recommended recruiter, who had aggressively marketed me to a few firms before the severance ran out, but nothing comes of it (one company even shut down weeks later). Everyone so highly recommends networking, but everyone around here seems to know at least a dozen unemployed folks. It gets kind of depressing hearing "oh, you too". Several of my former coworkers move soon after the layoff - in fact, only two have found any position, both who found those within a few days (hmmm, already job hunting were they?). Others I know have put houses on the market, gone to work in various new (questionable?) sales deals, etc.

Such fun. Two job fairs. One is for a company (Red Hat), the other is one of those with several companies arranged by a professional job fair "broker". At the first, I'm shuffled in and out in about five minutes. I knew I wasn't the best match and without really coming down in $$ I'm asking, I didn't stand a chance, but I've already pitched myself at about 13% less than my last pay. Any further, and I feel and to some extent know that if a potential employer got a hold of my last pay rate then they would just assume I would leave as soon as I could get something closer to that.

The second job fair is at a "Suites" hotel. Three companies are there. I remember going to these things and seeing more than 30 companies when times were better. It's an interesting site. One company, an out of state company coming in to recruit job seekers for relocation, has no line. I quickly drop off a resume, not at that time wanting to think relo until at least January. The second, with a small line, has someone come out every now and then and announce what jobs they have, at which time the line shrinks in an instance (system admins and dental hygienists(?)). The third has a long line. I know what they are hiring for. They really not hiring, it's just that they might get a big local contract involving 400 jobs. Truth is, most of those jobs will be offered to the current contract holder's employees, employees who would likely be laid off by the incumbent contract holder when they lose it. My guess is that at least 360 of those 400 won't be there, and most of those 40 will be contract management, HR, and other admin kinds of jobs. At least time in line allows me to catch up with Clayton, the guy who used to sit in the cubicle next to me at my last employer.

Later in the week, I meet with former colleagues for lunch. The news is depressing as ever. Those who still work for my old company are likely to be gone in September.

Next time: we finish catching the story up to date ...